


i could love you more than love could

by FakePlastikTrees



Category: The Mindy Project
Genre: F/M, post Jamie and Lucy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-08
Updated: 2014-12-08
Packaged: 2018-02-28 14:25:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,442
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2735921
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FakePlastikTrees/pseuds/FakePlastikTrees
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mindy and Danny never do go on a double date with Jamie and Lucy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	i could love you more than love could

**Author's Note:**

> Smapdi prompted me, and I'm not sure what this is exactly, I tried to wrap it up as best as I could, but, it's a bit wonky.

 

 

“Where did you find that? Is that mine?”

 

“Yeah.” Danny says as he refills their shot glasses. “It was in the kitchen.”

 

“No, Danny, I don’t want any more.”

 

“Don’t be a pussy, come on.”

 

“That’s offensive,” She grumbles, begrudgingly taking the glass as he holds it out for her. “You really get mouthy when you’re miserable.”

 

“Whatever.”

 

They knock the tequila back and Mindy feels her mouth go pleasantly numb. She can feel the heat in her belly and she smiles as she holds her glass out for another. Smirking back, Danny expertly fills it for her before filling his own. The fourth shot goes down almost too easily.

 

“We should go,” Mindy says and Danny nods, but before she can lead the way to the door, her phone chirps. She reads the text message and frowns, but she can’t say she’s all that surprised. If she were sober and hungry she’d be a hell of a lot more pissed. ”Shoot.”

 

“What?” Danny comes up behind her, jacket on and holding Mindy’s.

 

“Sorry, running late. Lucy still getting ready.” She looks up from her phone and can already tell what Danny is thinking just from the way he’s so smugly looking at her. It’s that look he gets that says ‘I know so much more than you’. Just as he opens his mouth and prepares to make some scathing remark about her poor choices and laughable love life, Mindy holds her hand up and stops him before he can get a word out. “Whatever you’re going to say, keep it to yourself, okay? I already know.”

 

He seems to have thought better of it and his features soften almost instantly at just one look at her disappointment. “I was just going to ask you if you wanted to just go to dinner with me. I’m starving.”

 

She looks up at him, and despite the awful feeling of being passed over for someone else, a smile slowly forms upon her lips. That lopsided grin of his makes an appearance and she laughs. “Yeah.”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“Yeah, fuck it. Jamie can suck it.”

 

“All right.”

 

“One more shot before we go, though.”

 

“Okay.”

 

 

 

 

As it turns out, waiting to be seated at a five star restaurant—even with reservations—isn’t an achievable feat for two already impatient patrons drunk on tequila. So, after some complaining to the staff and some old timey insult Mindy finds hilarious, she and Danny finally make their way to a nearby Diner instead. He orders a steak and she orders a burger.

 

After a few minutes of comfortable silence, Mindy pipes up, “I’m sorry you won’t be getting laid tonight.”

 

“Well, the night is still young,” Danny says and winks at a passing waitress.

 

“Ugh, Danny, break-ups make you gross. You’re acting like Jeremy.”

 

“We should all be a little like Jeremy at some point in our lives.”

 

“Well, take it from someone who’s slept with Jeremy, it’s not fun being on the other side of that.”

 

He’s watching her closely now, and she’s beginning to grow nervous so she reaches out and rearranges the sugar packets in their little tray, clearing her throat and looking out the window to her right.

 

“Sorry.” Danny says quietly.

 

“S’okay.”

 

“I’m not being a Jeremy, for the record, I’m just—you know.”

 

“Yeah, I get it.”

 

Another moment passes, Smokey Robinson is playing in the background, and Danny is tapping his fingers on the table in time with the beat.

 

“Actually,” Mindy starts. “Are you really that upset? I mean, did you actually see things going somewhere significant with Eye Patch? I mean, come on, Danny, you can’t be that sad.”

 

“I don’t know, are you upset that your boyfriend is with some other girl right now?”

 

Mindy’s jaw drops and she straightens her posture defensively as she glares at him. “Whoa.”

 

Something bitter passes between them. Mindy doesn’t like it. Before the tension can grow thicker, their waitress comes to their table and sets their respective plates down.

 

“One medium rare steak with a side of steamed vegetables, and one well done Linebacker Burger with a side of French fries for the lady. Let me know if you need anything else.”

 

“Thank you.” Mindy mumbles meekly as Danny’s gaze fleets across her features and then heaves a sigh.

 

 “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that. I’m—I’m just drunk.”

 

Nodding her head and plucking two paper napkins from the dispenser, she catches a whiff of her food and decides there are better things to worry about. Like her growling stomach. “It’s okay.” She smirks at him and hands him a napkin. “I’m sorry, too.”

 

“I’m kind of—glad I don’t’ have to go on that date anymore, to be honest with you.”

 

“Really?” She asks, picking the tomato and onion out of her burger and dropping it on his plate instead. “I thought you wanted to go.”

 

“You didn’t really give me a choice.”

 

She laughs and then picks up her burger after having blanketed it in ketchup. She takes a big enough bite to drip out of both corners of her mouth.

 

Without missing a beat, Danny reaches over and wipes her chin clean. “Jesus, you’re a child, Lahiri.”

 

She’s smiling as she chews, her entire face lighting up at the utter enjoyment of her food and he can’t help but chuckle. He drops the balled up tissue on the table and reaches into her plate for a pinch of fries that he pops into his mouth and chews heartily.

 

“Don’t eat my fries! Eat your gross vegetables.”

 

“They looked good.”

 

“They are good.”

 

“They’re terrible for you.”

 

“Life is short.” She says with a shrug.

 

“Yeah,” he says, pulling a generous chunk of steak into his mouth as she continues to eat happily, now humming and bobbing her head, nearly oblivious to him in favor of her plate. Life is short, he thinks. Maybe it’s time he does something out of his routine. “Hey, do you want to do something?” She seems confused for a second, the tail end of a French fry sticking out of her mouth like a cigarette in mid chew. “After dinner, I mean. After we eat. Would that—would that be weird?”

 

Regarding him thoughtfully, she sucks the fry into her mouth and then shakes her head. “No. I don’t think so. What do you want to do?”

 

“I’ll think of something. This place has great pie though, you want to split a slice?”

 

“Yeah, but I don’t see the waitress…”

 

“It’s okay, I know the cook, I’ll be right back.”

 

Mindy watches Danny disappear into the kitchen after speaking with the woman at the counter, and finds herself smiling. She thinks she may still be drunk because Danny is being unusually sweet, or maybe that makes him the drunk one.

 

Her phone vibrates in her purse and when she reaches for it, she pauses. Jamie’s face beams back at her. She considers answering the call, her thumb hovering over the screen between the red and green buttons. She glances briefly at Danny’s half eaten steak and feels a strange but welcome bubbling feeling in her chest. She quickly ignores the call and throws the phone back in her purse, just as Danny slides back into the booth with a rather large, but sweet smelling slice of apple pie.

 

“Danny, that’s huge!”

 

“I told you I know the cook. We get the fresh pie, right out of the oven. Let it cool or it will burn your tongue right off, I’m not kidding.” He pulls the plate out of her grasp before she grabs a fork and raises a stern brow at Mindy’s pout. “Eat your burger.”

 

“But I want pie now.”

 

“Mindy.”

 

“Fine, fine, I’ll wait. Though this delicious burger will now taste like crap because I can’t get that pie out of my mind.”

 

Sighing, he pushes the plate in front of her. “You’re going to singe your taste buds, I’m warning you.”

 

“You’ve obviously never seen Lahiri ambition. It’s like blonde ambition but more dangerous.” She barely has her tongue on the steaming forkful when she drops it and whines, “Owe! Owe owe owe owe! Owe, Danny it hurts.”

 

He starts to laugh but is on his feet and rushing to the counter at the first sign of tears. He returns with a glass of ice water that he hands to her after scooting in beside her. “Drink that. I told you not to eat it yet, but do you listen? No, no of course you don’t listen, what’s the matter with you, huh?”

 

“I’m reckless, Danny, lock me up before I kill someone.”

 

He does laugh now, gently tilting her chin up to get a good luck at her tongue as she sticks it out for examination. “I think you’re fine.”

 

“It doesn’t feel fine, I don’t feel anything.”

 

“That’s because you ate really hot pie!”

 

“Don’t yell at me, Danny, I’m emotional!”

 

“I’m sorry!”

 

Their waitress comes up to their table, places a bowl of ice cream down and offers a mirthful smile. “For your girlfriend’s tongue. On the house.”

 

“Oh she’s not--”

 

“I’m not his girlfriend.”

 

She’s gone before she can hear any explanation, leaving them to stare helplessly at the space around them. ‘Ma Cherie Amour’ is playing in the Diner and Mindy can swear she hears her heart beating in her chest. Danny wants to believe it’s possible that he’s not sweating as much as he knows he is.

 

“The ice cream is a good idea, you should try that.”

 

“Yeah.” She shoves a spoonful into her mouth and instantly swallows, wincing and gasping dramatically as a bolt of brain freeze shoots right into her temple. “Oh, fuck—me, that hurts! Owe!”

 

“Now what?” Danny’s head jerks in her direction and he rolls his eyes at the ridiculous woman sitting beside him. “You’ve got to be kidding me!”

 

She’s got her hand pressed against the side of her head, her eyes are squeezed shut, her nose scrunched up and her lips are pursed so tightly that they’re practically gone. Danny’s never seen anything more insufferable and beautiful.

 

“Okay,” He starts calmly and gently as he reaches out and braces her head in both hands, rubbing gently with his thumbs. “Alright, just relax okay? Breathe.”

 

“Owe…”

 

“I know. Just give it a minute, okay?”

 

The heat of his hands, his fingers tracing her hairline, his thumbs gently circling the tension right off, it’s all a little too much, and soon enough, Mindy’s breathing heavily, and feeling more than aware of his proximity. When she opens her eyes, he’s staring right back at her and she can’t help but catch her breath.

 

“Why are you looking at me like that?” She blurts out.

 

“Like what?” He counters, her face still in his.

 

“Like you’re going to kiss me.”

 

“I’m not looking at you like that.”

 

“You are, you are looking at me like that.”

 

“I’m not! I’m looking at you like you just burned your tongue off and I’m a physician, it’s totally professional!”

 

“Are you sure?”

 

“Yes!”

 

She isn’t sure why she’s panicking suddenly.

 

He isn’t sure why he’s panicking either, but as soon as the back and forth has seized, he instantly releases her face and he looks away from her and she does the same.

 

She eats her ice cream, slowly this time, and he manages to get through most of their pie in silence. It isn’t uncomfortable, not exactly, but it isn’t void of tension either. By the time they are walking out of the diner and he’s holding the door open for her, guiding her with the usual hand on the small of her back, something’s been triggered and the space between them is suddenly charged with an electricity they could no longer blame on tequila this far into the night.

 

They walk side by side through the sidewalk, crowded with couples strolling hand in hand through festive lights brought out for the occasion, street vendors line the street with modest bouquets of flowers, magazine stands are decorated in red and pink heart paper cut-outs, happy dates sit on the other side of restaurant windows, horse drawn carriages are circling the park, Danny swallows a knot of panic when his fingers graze Mindy’s.

 

He doesn’t notice that she catches her breath, or that her hand turns towards his, vaguely seeking promised contact as she licks her lips and begins to feel hot inside her coat.

 

There’s a chill out, but it isn’t freezing, there is commotion in the city, but not an all too irritating one as it often could be. She’s all too aware of him, of the evening, of Jamie and Eye Patch and what their night almost was and what it actually is, what it promises to be, her mind is reeling, which is why she gasps and doesn’t exactly register Danny’s hand firmly grab hers to pull her back once he’s stopped walking, or the moment where he releases her hand only to wrap his arm firmly around her waist while his free hand cradles her cheek and his mouth lands upon hers with as much confidence as uncertainty, not until it is actually happening.

 

_It’s happening._

 

They’re kissing in the middle of a crowded sidewalk, the sea of people opening up around them, going about their business while all the heat and all the energy from the night seems to engulf them in this single moment.

 

Danny’s lips are full and demanding, while Mindy’s are compliant and savoring. He squeezes her a little and she sighs against him, her breath coming out against his cheek as she moans softly, shivering in his arms as the kiss deepens further. His tongue may be the best thing she’s tasted all night, and it is making her forget that not long ago she’d lost all feeling of it. She can feel _everything_.

 

Their kiss breaks slowly, gradually, mostly because he didn’t know he was in such terrible need of her lips until this moment. It’s a bubble they’ve created between them, and all there is now is her eyes, fluttering open and staring expectantly, her lips kiss swollen and parted as the heat of her breath escapes between them and the taste of remnants of her lipstick, her rosy cheeks.

 

“I know it’s Valentine’s Day, and it’s a lot of pressure, but—do you want to go on a date with me?” He asks. It’s silly, childish maybe, but the way her lips form a smile makes him glad he’s said it. He takes the kiss she gives him as a yes.


End file.
